


Strong as Steeel, Fragile as Glass

by Babykitsune9



Category: Avengers
Genre: F/M, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Bucky, Protective Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Has A Heart, fem peter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 07:13:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20792714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babykitsune9/pseuds/Babykitsune9
Summary: May Parker was gone, taken from Tony's favorite Spider-teen. Now thrust into a role he never saw himself in, with the other Avenger's by his side. Can he manage to care for and protect the one who is stronger as steel and yet so very fragile? This is my first Fem Peter fic. No pairings as of yet but there might be later.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.ebay.com/usr/423raven24.432
> 
> this is the link to my ebay store if anyone wants to look anything up.

It was raining. Despite the fact that the weather on this particular day was supposed to be sunny and warm, the day was as cold and wet and dark as his thoughts as he stood close behind 'Peter' while the poor kid sobbed uncontrollably and continuously rubbed at 'his' eyes until Tony felt that he had to step in and keep the kid from accidentally clawing out her own eyes.

Gently grasping the kid's slender wrists in both of his hands, he pulled the teen back against his body and let her bury her face against his chest. He didn't know who felt more sad and upset at the moment.

The kid, for losing everything the way that she had.

Or himself for failing to be present to protect her and her aunt.

Maybe it was a little bit of both. Lord knew that the kid was beyond sad right now. And frankly he couldn't exactly blame her for feeling that way. May Parker's death had been anything but an accident. Anything but a freak occurrence.

Her death had been slow, agonizing, and brutal.

And the fact that the kid had _seen_ and _heard_ everything from beginning to end, only served to stir the nearly bottomless pit of rage within him. The day that he had seen the news, and learned of May's death, had been the day that he had called Bruce and almost fucking begged him to turn him into a large, mean rage monster too.

Bruce had called him crazy and of course hung up on him, the bastard. But it wasn't like he couldn't understand where the man was coming from. Once he'd had the kid safely tucked away in one of the guest rooms back at the tower while he planned out May's funeral for her, he'd made a point of calling Bruce up again just to apologize.

He hadn't meant to be insensitive. He was just..._stupidly impulsive_.

Bruce had agreed with him on that and then asked what was going on. Pretty much forcing Tony to relive everything from the news broadcast of the huge freaking explosion in Queens. To the number of people still missing, and considered dead due to being buried alive underneath the rubble of burning buildings, and homes. Exploding cars, and gas pipes had also been an issue.

The kid had been seen trying to help as many as she could. And because of the fact that she had been in the suit, helping others, May had been left vulnerable and perished.

The kid, when he had gone to get her at the site of the devastation, had been attempting to dig through the ruins and fiery debris in an effort to find May. Suffering burn injuries, deep gnashes and cuts all up and down her arms and legs and even on her chest and the palms of her hands.

It had taken nearly every ounce of strength that he had possessed to pull her away from the fiery wreckage and ruins that she had once called home just so that she didn't injure herself more of what had been considered even then, a futile search for any signs of life.

She had pitched one hell of a tantrum. Shrieking and hissing and spitting like a hellion before she had literally pried him off of her and threw him into a car almost half a mile away. He'd been banged up pretty badly due to the sheer force of the throw. Even his Iron Man suit hadn't fully protected him like it normally- okay, _sometimes_\- did.

He had suffered a concussion, five fractured bones, some serious bruises and bloody scratches that burned every time he tried to put medicine on them, but aside from those things- he was perfectly fine. It was the kid that worried him.

Once he had finally managed to get her away from the site and secure her in the tower, he'd had to drug her just to keep her from getting out and going back. He'd kept her unconscious for six days while he rushed signed papers adopting her so that she wouldn't be taken by Social Services and placed in a foster home or something while finalizing plans for May's funeral service.

After he had finally fallen silent, Bruce had told him that he was sorry to hear what had happened to the kid, and to call again if he or she needed anything.

Feeling her press her face against his chest even harder, Tony jolted a little bit out of his thoughts and tried to focus a bit more on the hysterically crying teen in his arms as she started screaming. Her voice raw and rough, yet muffled against his torso, frightened him somewhat.

He'd spent a lot of time with the kid in the past year and a half and _never_ had he ever seen her like this.

Tightening his grip on her somewhat, he buried his nose in her dark curly hair and made soft hushing sounds as he noted that she had stood out in the rain without protection for so long crying over her aunt May's grave that her clothing was completely drenched, much like her hair and everything else.

Muttering an oath underneath his breath, he bent down a little bit and slipped an arm underneath her knees and picked her up. Not really giving a damn if the press currently being held back by some of the body guards that he had hired, took any pictures of Tony Stark- a.k.a. Iron Man attending the funeral of an unknown woman, and leaving the funeral carrying a hysterical teenager in his arms.

Let them look.

Let them see him and the kid.

Let them encroach on her grieving.

He'd have every picture and news report pulled by his crack team of lawyers within the hour. Nothing would be seen in the papers. Nor on the TV nation wide. May Parker's funeral was a private affair and he'd fucking keep it that way for the kid's sake.

Walking back to his limo, he was met half way by Happy whom had also been in attendance at the service. Not because he had known May. But because he was worried about the kid. His feelings were something that Tony could understand and appreciate a great deal.

He was worried too.

Happy didn't say anything as he quietly cast a concerned look towards the kid, now quietly sobbing in between hiccups that shook her slender body in Tony's arms, and thinned his lips a bit as he opened the car door and allowed Tony to gently place the kid inside of the vehicle before sliding in next to her and simply saying, "Take us home." in a dull sounding voice that on any other day would have had Happy immediately on the phone with Rhodey and Pepper, freaking out.

But today- today his dull tone was understandable. The reason was obvious.

It was Tony's way of saying, _I have miles to go before I finally rest_.


	2. Chapter 2

When Tony's limo pulled up to the tower, and Happy opened the door for him so that he could climb out and collect the kid- he was met with a peculiar sight. There just several feet away stood Rhodey, Bruce, Thor, Steve, Clint, Natasha, King T'challa of Wakanda, Bucky Barnes, Pepper, and of course Vision and Wanda.

Glancing away from them for a moment as he cradled the kid in his arms and simply held her there, he was about to ask what they were all doing there when Steve walked forward and said gently, as if reading his mind. "Bruce called us. He said that something was wrong and we all came to check on you," Glancing down at the kid, there was no hiding the curiosity in the taller man's blue gaze before he asked, "What happened?" in a concerned tone.

Obviously worried about both Tony and the kid.

"I can't get into it right now Cap. L-Let me get the kid inside and out of these wet clothes before he gets sick." Tony stammered out as Bucky moved forward next and said softly,

"Lemme take em." And carefully slipped his arms around the kid and took her from Tony's arms. Under normal circumstances, Tony would have vehemently protested Bucky Barnes- the man who served Hydra for over seventy years as the Winter Soldier and even murdered Tony's parents- taking, or even touching the kid in any way.

But today Tony merely muttered something to the effect of the man needing to be careful with his metal arm.

Something about it being an uncomfortable pillow.

Bucky merely offered Tony a tight lipped smile and a small nod before turning and walking off into the building with Pepper close behind him. Apparently wanting to help assist the man in finding the kid's room and helping get Peter out of his-

_Oh damn._ Tony thought as soon as it occurred to him that the only people to know that Peter Parker was actually a female were Rhodey, himself, Happy and Pepper. Tony had purposely kept everyone else out of the loop because the kid had asked him to. Well maybe asked was too tame a word. Begged, and pleaded and used those damned puppy dog eyes of hers seemed a lot more accurate.

Quickly excusing himself from the others before any of them could start up much of a conversation or ask him if he needed anything, he all but ran to the nearest elevator and when it didn't come back down quickly enough, he decided to take the stairs. Figuring, what the hell? It was only fifty stories between himself and the kid- he could run it if he really pushed himself.

Nearly twenty minutes later, he finally reached his destination and slammed the stairway door open just in time to hear Pepper shout, "Get out!" as Bucky came scurrying out of the kid's room looking pale and shaken.

The former Winter's Soldier damned near tripped over his own feet trying to escape Pepper's wrath before he slammed into the wall and slid down it to rest, sitting on the floor across from the room he had just run out of quick, fast and in a hurry- shaking like a leaf.

Casting a quick glance down at the normally cocky and smartassed man, Tony inwardly cringed as the man muttered over and over under his breath, "I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know." as Pepper stomped out of the bedroom and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him up and practically snarled in his face causing Tony to freeze out of a sense of self preservation and held his breath.

After all, if she didn't realize he was there- she obviously couldn't skin him alive like she apparently wanted to do to Barnes.

He heard the ex-Winter's Soldier whimper something in an effort to get Pepper to release him. The pitiful sound meant to pull at the woman's heartstrings enough to allow escape.

But the joke was on him.

Pepper had long ago learned to harden her heart against whining, whimpering and prettily spoken lies. In other words, Barnes was fucked and he knew it the moment that Pepper's lips curved up into a devious, blood chilling smirk before she promptly began dragging the man down the hall to Tony's study calling out over her shoulder, "The kid is out of his wet clothes and resting in bed. You might wanna take this chance to change out of your wet clothes too while I take care of making this lout sign a non disclosure agreement."

Barnes sputtered and called for Steve several times, apparently thinking that the boy scout would appear magically and save him from the fiery red head.

But the joke was on him. The second that Tony had found out about the Cap's super human hearing, he'd made his floor and several others completely sound proof. The Cap wouldn't hear him until Pepper finally decided to let him run away from her in terror.

Shaking his head at Pepper and Barnes antics, he then slowly made his way into the kid's room. Finding her already curled up in the middle of her king size bed in the blue sapphire blue satin PJ's that he'd bought for her on a whim for her last birthday three months ago.

Walking quietly over to the bed, he quietly shrugged off his wet jacket, shirt, and slipped his shoes off before taking a moment to grab some sweat pants that he kept in her room just in case something happened and she needed to be watched during the night time hours and quickly slipped them on before returning back to the bedside and slowly sitting down on the edge of the mattress.

Reaching out tentatively, Tony began combing his fingers through the kid's mid shoulder length dark curls causing her to twitch slightly and shift underneath the covers so that she could look at him for a moment from over her shoulder.

Her wide almost inhumanly turquoise blue eyes were red rimmed from crying so much, and filled with such pain and despair that Tony found himself stretching out next to her on the bed and wrapped an arm around her slender frame, pulling her back against him as he said softly. "Try to get some sleep kid. I'll keep you company."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven't figured out a good girl name for fem Peter. So I'm still switching back and forth between kid and 'Peter' the male persona's name.   
It's a little bit annoying, I now. But i just can't seem to think up a pretty girl name that I'll remember and be able to spell.

Tony didn't bother making any appearances to the common room to tell them what the hell was going on. In fact Pepper was nice enough to tell them that he wouldn't be back immediately at the same time Bucky somehow managed to slip free of her grasp and made a super fast beeline straight for Thor and Steve.

Obviously thinking that they might in some way protect him from her if she decided to come after him again.

Both men looked over their shoulders at him, their glances both confused and uneasy before they put their eyes back towards the front and merely tried to look intimidating enough to keep the woman away.

Which was more than a little bit of a difficult task really.

I mean, this was Pepper!

The same woman that not only knocked Tony on his ass on a regular basis. But also the same woman whom had single handedly chased the Hulk out of the tower, after he had broken some really, _really_ expensive equipment down in one of the labs, with a spray bottle full of vinegar.

So if she had something against Bucky, Steve was more than likely to hand him over as a sacrifice just to save himself. And from the uncomfortable/apologetic look on Thor's face, he was obviously thinking along the same lines as Steve.

"So- since Tony isn't going to come here anytime soon, does anyone wanna fill us in?" Clint asked from where he lounged on the couch next to Bruce and Nat.

"Of course, Clint," Pepper began before then saying. "First of all I would like to apologize for Tony's less than hospitable attitude at the moment. He's worried about leaving Peter alone for long due to the night terrors and anxiety attacks that he has been suffering these last few days. Second of all, I know that you've all come a long way from wherever you were before, so Tony has extended an invitation for each of you to stay and rest here until you decide to leave. _If_ you decide to leave."

Everyone stayed silent as she then went on to tell them about the huge explosion that had rocked Queens and caused a massive sink hole almost five miles in length and width to develop and how Peter's aunt had been saved by the kid around the time of the first explosion, however the second is the one that had killed her.

She went on to mention how quickly Tony had dropped everything when he saw the incident on the news, and how fast he had gotten to the kid only to find him injured, bleeding, and digging through the fiery rubble and ruins with his bare hands.

She mentioned that the kid had had to be dragged from the area kicking and screaming by Tony whom had called her in the middle of the night to get his lawyers on the phone and draw up adoption papers which were pushed through immediately the day after the incident had occurred.

To say that everyone was shocked by what had happened- well with the exception of Bruce whom had been given the somewhat watered down version of the story days ago- would be an understatement.

They had each seen the news reports on the incident, but didn't really understand Tony's odd need to become involved. In fact the _why_ of things were still somewhat of a puzzle to them.

"If I may, Miss Potts, could you tell us why exactly Tony felt the insane need to adopt someone that he doesn't know?" Steve asked curiously, hoping that he had phrased his question the right way. Pepper merely gave him a tight lipped smile before responding with.

"That's just the thing, about a year before the Avenger's split up- Tony was scouting new talent to one day join you all as a fellow Avenger, and came across a video on YouTube of this kid, barely more than twelve years old- stopping a car with his bare hands when it almost ran him over. I've never seen Tony act like he did when he found the video of the kid. He became enamored by him. He tracked him down to a nice home in Queens. He got his history, met his family. He even kidnapped the kid on occasion and had him help him improve his suits, and even got input when he was building a suit for the boy. He disappeared every week to have dinner with the kid and his family..."

"Let me guess, that kid is Peter."

"Yes. Peter is a very remarkable young man-" Bucky made a weird choking sound, causing Pepper to glare in his direction. Automatically shutting him up before she continued. "About three weeks before all of you split as the Avenger's Tony decided to see just what Peter is capable of. Apparently he is not only super strong, fast, flexible, he has a high metabolism, superior senses unlike _anything_ we've ever seen before even in Steve and Bucky. He has a healing factor that keeps him in perfect health even after suffering from multiple broken bones, internal bleeding and near fatal injuries."

She sighed before finally finishing by saying, "Peter is a good kid. A little bit of a trouble magnet, and a punk, but a good kid nevertheless. And he and Tony absolutely _adore_ each other."

* * *

Tony wasn't sure when he somehow managed to doze off next to the kid. All he knew was that he woke up to the annoying buzzing sound of his Stark phone. Lifting his head a little bit, he looked around to see where his jacket from before was lying since his phone was in the breast pocket, and stiffened a little bit when he felt the kid move a little bit closer to him.

Apparently trying to burrow into his side a little further for more warmth.

Making a soft sound, Tony petted the kid's head for a moment until she settled down again as he lay back down and closed his eyes. Intent to ignore his phone and continue resting for as long as he could next to his girl.

* * *

_"Wow."_ Clint said looking at her wide eyed from over the back of the couch.

"I know, right." Rhodey said with a grin. He'd been taken to dinner over at the kid's place once or twice before, and had seen how Tony acted around Peter. Tony treated the kid like she was his own flesh and blood daughter.

Why not too long ago Tony had been in the news for punching out a teacher at the kid's school for turning a blind eye to Peter getting beaten bloody right in front of him by a bully.

The man had tried to play off his failure as a teacher as something he 'didn't see nor hear'. While Tony had practically snarled a death threat in the face of a camera man whom had asked him about the incident, while he'd been out with Peter, barely two days after it had happened.

"Tony really loves the kid, huh?" Steve asked with a wry smile. Genuinely happy that his friend had found someone that he was willing to put everything that he had into. He'd never thought of Tony as much of a parental figure. He was too arrogant, reckless in both word and deed. He lived his life day to day and never really seemed to give a damn what anyone thought of his actions.

"You would not believe just how much." Pepper said with an bemused smile before going on to say, "He finally gave up drinking."

"No way-" Bruce started to say when Rhodey cut him off with a jovial sounding.

"_Way_. He completely purged the tower of it. He said that he didn't want Peter anywhere near that shit until he was a hundred and ten, and had been dead for at least sixty years or something to that effect."

Steve, Bruce, Natasha, Clint, and Thor looked both shocked and impressed by the fact that Tony had finally decided to sober up and stay that way. Especially since he was worried about the impression his drinking might give Peter.

"He's also attended several of Peter's school events. Donated money for the school to get updated books, and computers. He's even had Peter attend a few of his gala's and introduced him as his son!"

Steve chuckled softly and simply said, "Then I guess we should all hang around for a while and get to know, and help Peter out any way that we can."


	4. Chapter 4

Steve, Bucky, Clint, Bruce and Thor remained awake long after everyone else had retired for the night, thinking. Even after everything that they had been told, it was still a little difficult for them to see Tony Stark as a father figure of any kind. Though Thor, was giddy as all hell to meet Tony's heir. Steve, while happy for Tony was still having some trouble wrapping his head around the mere idea of Tony becoming responsible for a young and impressionable kid, seemed to be willing to sit back and observe Tony and Peter interact together before he bothered judging the man's many, many short failings any further.

It was well into the early morning hours, sometime around seven thirty or maybe eight am when the door to the common room opened and the small, almost waifish form of the kid from the day before appeared in the doorway.

Any words that the men had been exchanging automatically fell silent as they turned their heads to stare wide eyed at the kid. After all it wasn't everyday that Tony adopted someone.

Tony's adopted son was shockingly small and waiflike. In fact for someone who was fourteen, the boy didn't have an ounce of muscle on his lean frame. Giving him an almost petite look to his build. Not only that but when he lifted a hand to rub at one of his eyes, Steve's eyes widened in alarm when he saw just how thin the kid's wrist was.

For fuck's sake- he could see his wrist bone jutting out from underneath his skin in a way that looked absolutely painful!

The boy was incredibly pale too.

_When was the last time that he had eaten anything?_ Steve wondered to himself as everyone remained perfectly still so that they wouldn't startle the boy as he made a beeline straight for the fridge in the kitchen and upon reaching it promptly opened the door and began pulling out some stuff and setting it in the floor around him.

Curious everyone moved stealthily around the island separating the kitchen and watched as the kid systematically began emptying can after can of vanilla flavored Starbucks canned coffee. Setting the empty cans aside once he was done, he then grabbed five, two liters of unopened Crush grape soda and then began draining those as well.

Once those were done, he set them aside and grabbed a jar of pickles and popped the top and then grabbed some ice cream, left over pizza, a medium container of fried chicken thighs, some hot sauce and buttermilk ranch dressing and began to eat them.

It only took the kid ten minutes give or take to finish inhaling his food and lean back against the kitchen cabinet and just stared blankly ahead for several moments before one of them decided to even attempt _trying_ to say anything.

"Um...are you okay there kid?" Steve asked after a moment or so of awkward silence.

Peter didn't respond at first. Which was both a little bit alarming as well as annoying. However he seemed to respond to Tony's voice when he heard it come from several feet away from the group of men clustered together like the old timey Scooby-Doo gang, around the kitchen island.

"Peter," Tony's voice sounded both weary and worried at the same time as he took in the scene before him for a moment. His sleep blurred sight barely managing to take in what he was seeing. "You okay kid?"

The kid banged his head on the cabinets behind him twice and Tony sighed before coming forward to push his way past the others so that he could check on the kid. Finally managing to reach Peter's side, he knelt down next to the kid and said gently. "I know what would cheer you up. How about I call Ned's parents and see if he can stay over for a long weekend, and we'll all lock ourselves in the lab and make things to blow up."

The boy looked at him blankly for a moment as Tony continued to ramble, "It'll be awesome! We'll stay up late, eat tons of ice cream and junk food- We'll have a root beer drinking contest to see who can drink the most without throwing up- you know I've gotten better at holding my own against you."

There was a soft snort as the kid looked away from Tony.

Maybe because the man's odd ramblings were somewhat amusing to the teen?

"Or we can just have Ned over, watch him geek out because of the others, count how many times he's going to faint as it happens, and the Cap will let you touch his shield." Steve made a strangled sound in the back of his throat, apparently not liking that his shield was being tossed into this weird and messed up negotiation with the boy as a bargaining chip.

However he said nothing since he knew that the boy was grieving.

If touching his shield would somehow magically distract/make things seem better for a little while for the teen, then he'd live with it. But he'd skin Tony alive with a dull spoon if the kid so much as scratched his shield's paint any.

There was another soft snort from the boy before he responded by holding up an empty coffee can and then opening and closing one of his hands in front of Tony's face six times. Tony seemed to understand and merely scrubbed his face with his hands for a second before saying, "Yeah, okay. More coffee. You know that your going to be jittery as all hell later right?"

The boy merely blinked at him and Tony sighed and wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulders and helped him up off of the floor as he said. "I'm going to have to literally _peel_ you off of the ceiling later if you drink too much more coffee and soda. As much as I find you amusing when you're jittery- I've not yet had a real dose of you being as hyper as the energizer bunny on crack. So for the time being, you get two more sodas and three more coffees- at least until Ned gets here. Okay?"

Peter still said nothing. Though he did respond to Tony by leaning into him a little bit and resting his head on the man's shoulder as they disappeared from the room.

But not before Tony cast a apologetic glance over his shoulder at the others and mouthed,_ "Sorry."_


	5. Chapter 5

Words couldn't describe how freaked out Tony had been upon waking up alone in the kid's bedroom. His heart had stuttered- hell it had almost damned near stopped. He'd broken out into a cold sweat, he couldn't seem to breathe in enough air- his lungs burned so badly that he had felt as if he were drowning or something.

However he knew that to simply be an illusion that his mind had created to fit his current anxieties.

He'd lost May. His fears of losing the kid too were too terrible for him to cope with. So he panicked. Called on his computer AI, FRIDAY, and in between wheezing breaths demanded to know where his kid was. Only the fact that FRIDAY was able to automatically tell him where Peter was, seemed to calm him down even a little bit.

Though the fact that his kid was present in the same room with Steve, Bucky, and Clint rankled him more than a little bit give the events that had transpired when the team had split up. Only the fact that Thor and Bruce were also present in the common room kept Tony from suiting up and blasting the doors off their hinges and attacking his former friends.

After all, as much as he could appreciate Bruce's ability to bring people together quick, fast, and in a hurry with his weird combination of puppy dog eyes and subtly veiled threats of people being 'smashed by the Hulk'- He trusted him and Thor with the kid far more than he trusted the three others.

Especially since Steve, Bucky and Clint had fought against the kid before splitting.

He could also appreciate the fact that the others were trying, and after being apart from them for well over a year, he finally understood why Steve had taken Bucky's side over his. He figured it out once he'd realized how he actually felt about the kid after a lengthy conversation the two had had in his lab one day a few months back.

Peter had practically blown his mind with his insight into the events leading up to the Avenger's disbanding. He had even been kind and patient enough to walk Tony through it.

Steve had picked Bucky, not just because they were old friends. But because he had known that he wasn't himself when he had killed Tony's parents. He'd probably gotten a heads up from Nat or Fury about Hydra having people that they tended to brainwash and turn into cold blooded killers and had already been looking into things so that he could help them if he found them.

So to Steve the fight between himself and Tony had had little to do with the accords- which had already been stressing everyone out- but it was more about his sense of justice. What is_ right_ verses what was considered to be _wrong_. With a little bit of Steve's brand of loyalty thrown in there.

Just a smidge.

Steve had deemed Bucky as someone in need of saving. And as such he had turned on Tony when he had shown a lack of understanding for his predicament, and instead voiced his desire for revenge.

Steve hadn't wanted to choose. He merely wanted to do what was right.

Bucky hadn't wanted Steve to choose either. It merely happened that Steve chose his side and stuck to it.

Peter had also pointed out that if Tony had just listened to reason, the fight might never had escalated as it had, and everyone would still be a team. However he didn't think that Tony was entirely at fault in things either.

Steve should have told him. Hell, Nat should have told him what they had found and when. They never should have lied, and should have given him ample time to calm himself down and understand that Bucky hadn't been entirely at fault either. He had then gone on to point out to Tony that- _Yes_ Barnes had blood on his hands. Much of the time that blood was innocent.

However he had been _used_ as a tool to shed that blood without any seeming awareness of what he was doing much less any way to actually fight against it.

Peter had described the feeling of being controlled by another being or consciousness as akin to slowly dying. You're trapped, isolated, you want to seek help- you want to say, do, perhaps even scream for it- yet you are stuck. Bound. Either unaware, or unable to resist what is being done. All you know is that you want it to stop.

And then he had softly pointed out. That the utter helplessness and despair of such a situation would drive many people mad. Perhaps even drive them to_ kill_ or _damage_ themselves irreparably.

Steve was Bucky's safe place. Sort of like a security blanket. And after being used and abused for so long- it would be dangerous if not_ lethal_ to everyone if Steve and Barnes were separated now that they had finally found each other.

The kid had made so many excellent arguments about what had happened and why that it had absolutely pissed Tony off. So he'd banned the kid from his labs for about two weeks before finally realizing that Peter was absolutely right.

About everything.

That had pissed him off a bit too. But he'd gotten over it and finally conceded that the boy had pointed out many things that he had never even considered before due to his anger, hatred and blind rage. Still, even though he was able to think more logically about it and was currently on the way to almost forgiving the traitors- it still didn't mean that he trusted them.

That had to fucking _earn_ that back. Especially after Rodgers and Barnes had beaten him so badly and practically leaving him for dead.

Upon entering the common room, he simply stood in the doorway. Making an lame attempt to allow Peter a tad bit more time to finish eating before he bothered making any moves towards the kitchen where Steve, Bucky, Bruce, Thor and Clint could be seen standing with their backs to him, huddled together in a slightly comical fashion.

Coming to a stop several feet away from the others, he couldn't help but simply stare at them and begin to wonder about the 'what if's' of life when he suddenly heard Steve ask awkwardly, "Um...are you okay kid?"

The fact that Peter pointedly either ignored Rodgers, or simply was still in too much shock to even speak at the moment is what got Tony moving again as he said tiredly, "Peter, are you okay kid?" as he pushed past the others and joined the boy on the floor to see for himself if his kid was okay-ish.

After taking stock of the damage Peter did to the fridge's contents and counting the empty, crushed nine coffee cans on the floor, the five Crush grape soda two liter bottles, the empty pickle jar, and the missing left over pizza and other stuff- and felt a strange feeling of relief about the kid finally eating something since he hadn't eaten in almost six days and had seemingly been growing weaker and weaker by the day.

After rambling about what would cheer the kid up, and assuring him that he'd call his friend from school, Ned, to see if he could stay with them for a long weekend of nothing but super distracting fun- he slipped an arm around Peter's slender shoulders and pulled the kid up off of the floor and slowly led him away from the prying eyes of the others and cast them an apologetic look and promised himself that he would speak to them all later in private and tell them that he was sorry that he was why they had left.

And how much he wished that they would come back.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay- I'm not sure how many of you out there are aware, but my 37yr old husband had a stroke Dec. 10th of last year and I'm not his full time caregiver. I'm disabled myself so my disability check is really the only money that we have coming in and I am stressing so bad over the bills, not being able to afford his medicines, the doctors visits ect.   
I mean I try to help out more by sticking to my strengths. But sometimes trying just isn't enough.  
I have an shop on Ebay, another on Etsy, and a Gofundme page and I can't seem to get any help at all. 
> 
> I do crafts, making jewerly and such. And I've been branching out over the past several years to other things. Lotion, perfumes, soaps, shamoos and conditioners, sketching, painting- which kicks my ass- moving on from just beaded jewelry to setting stones. 
> 
> I take commissions and even work with people on the payments if they have trouble.   
I'm worried that I'm going to lose my check and we'll wind up homeless. I'm worried that my husband will be put in a nursing home... I'm just worried in general.
> 
> Sorry for the long note- I guess i just needed to rant a little bit. If anyone is curious- the links to my pages are in my profile. Feel free to check them out or whatever.

Ned arrived at the tower a little bit before noon and was met at the door by Happy whom had roused from bed just long enough to open the door and let him scamper inside before meandering off again to return to his bed and sleep since his previous lack of sleep for the six days prior were finally catching up to him.

But that didn't mean that he was totally irresponsible or lacked total common sense.

He knew that he had to get the teen up to the thirty seventh floor before he could go back to bed. After all, if he didn't and the kid wandered into one of the labs and messed or touched the wrong thing- he'd not only have Tony and Pepper breathing down his neck for allowing harm to befall the boy, but a very, very upset- superpowered Peter too.

And he didn't bother to delude himself.

The kid may be cute and cuddly most of the time, but once you've crossed him- you were fucked. Royally, and utterly, F-U-C-K-E-D. Because Peter would not stop coming at you until you were either down, incapacitated or completely destroyed.

So with a exhausted sounding sigh, the man grabbed the geeking out kid by the back of his shirt and hauled him over to the nearest elevator and shoved him inside and pushed the button for the thirty seventh floor and then waved tiredly as the elevator doors closed on the sputtering teen.

* * *

Tony had dragged Peter with him down to his lab for a while to work on some stuff that they could blow up when he noticed the odd lack of movement and nervous energy from the other occupant in the room and turned to see where Peter had gotten himself off too, only to find the boy sprawled out on the lumpy, musty old sofa that he kept in the lab to nap on when he simply didn't want to sleep in his bed.

Shaking his head in dismay at the boy's unconscious form, especially after taking note of all of the coffee cans and overturned empty mugs lying around the side of the sofa where Peter's head lay- he couldn't believe that after drinking that much caffeine the kid wasn't up and running marathon laps around the city just to keep his heart from exploding in his chest or something.

The only other people that Tony had ever seen take that much caffeine into their bodies and not be adversely affected by it were Bruce and Steve.

Taking a moment to grab a rag and wipe the oil and grease from his hands, he then set the dirty piece of threadbare clothe on one of his work stations and walked over to the sofa and slipped his arms underneath Peter and carefully lifted the kid so that he could move him to the guest room next to the lab and almost got that far when he heard the most ungodly, girly shriek from somewhere down the hall.

Freezing up, he wondered for a moment where the sound could be coming from as Peter stirred slightly in his arms as another shriek was heard. Peter's eyes popped open and he began squirming in Tony's grasp as he rasped in a rough sounding voice, "I know that voice."

"Really? You know who is making that ungodly sound?" Tony asked as another shriek was heard, causing the man to cringe.

"S'Ned." Peter replied tiredly as he finally managed to wiggle free of Tony's grasp and practically tore down the hallway to see what was causing Ned to let out such an freakishly weird sound.

Tony took a moment to make a mental note to purchase some ear plugs for the next time he got the brilliant idea to let Ned visit before then deciding to go after Peter and make sure that the tower wasn't under some sort of dork attack or something.

Running down the hall, Tony finally came to an abrupt stop when he reached the common room and found Peter in a fighting stance in front of a terrified looking Ned, shielding him from a very hostile looking Natasha, Clint, and Steve while Rhodey looked like he was desperately trying to talk everyone into calming down before something very, very bad happened.

"Who is that? What the hell is a fan doing here?"

"Guys- Guys! I need all of you to listen to me, Ned is a friend of Peter's! Tony called him here!"

"How do we know that he isn't an enemy spy?" Clint growled as he glowered at the two kids. Or more specifically, Ned whom was attempting to make himself look as small as possible behind Peter's back. A feat that he didn't seem capable of actually pulling off due to the girth of his body.

"_You stay the fuck away from Ned or I'll break you in half_-" Peter spat angrily at Nat, who recoiled a little bit in shock. Either because of the sheer rage and venom behind the threat or because it genuinely seemed to bother her that his kid would actually attack her and the others if they didn't back off and leave Ned alone.

Rhodey turned his head and gaped for a moment at Peter before stuttering, "C-Calm down Pete. They aren't going to do shit to Ned."

To which Peter replied in a growling tone, "_You're right. They won't_._ I'll kill anyone who touches him_."

Deciding that he had caught his breath enough, Tony stepped into the room and said in his most authoritative tone, "That's enough! All of you!" Causing everyone to shift their attention to him as he then said, "Ned is not only Peter's friend, but a guest in my home like the lot of you- if I catch anyone messing with either of the kids- I will let Peter beat you bloody and then rip out your lungs and show them to you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Steve, Clint and Natasha all exchanged looks with each other before Steve slowly said, "We understand Tony," and then turned to Peter and Ned and said in an apologetic tone, "Peter, we're sorry that we scared your friend. We were just being.._.cautious_."

"Whatever." Peter snapped at him in a rude sounding tone before grabbing Ned's hand and tugging him along behind him as he made for the door, brushing by Tony as he led Ned from the room.

Leaving Tony with the others to sort things out.


	7. Chapter 7

Once Peter had Ned far enough away from the common room- he stopped dragging him along behind him and abruptly turned on his heel and placed his hands on Ned's shoulder's and gave him a very serious look over to make sure that he wasn't injured. As Ned chanted in a squeaky, panic stricken tone, akin to the one that he'd used last year when he had put a headlight out on his father's car when Peter had been over to play some baseball with him, "Holy shit! Holy shit! _They were going to kill me_!"

Peter paused checking him over to slowly straighten to his full height, towering over Ned by a good foot in a half. His turquoise colored eyes were absolutely frigid, as he slowly curled his fingers on both hands into fists causing his knuckles to pop menacingly before he slowly said in a seething tone, "They touch you, and I'll see to it that they _all_ die screaming."

Ned made a weird little strained sound in the back of his throat. Both oddly touched and at the same time just a little bit creeped out by the threat his bestie had just issued. To the Avenger's no less!

He didn't know which bugged him more at the moment. The fact that May was _dead_.

The fact that Peter didn't seem to be doing all that _well_ at all.

The fact that the Avenger's wanted to for some reason _kill_ him.

Or the fact that Peter have totally dropped the whole goodie-goodie act long enough to start _issuing_ death threats against the world's strongest hero's that Ned knew that he was totally capable of executing at any moment of his choosing.

Frankly as far as he was concerned none of it was good.

"There's no need to go killing off the world's hero's," Ned finally said after a length of time before then tacking on. "Besides, if you kill them all here, now, today... When the world needs them to assemble again and fight to protect it all that will be left to safe humanity will be you and Mr. Stark. I'm not sure about you but that's a heavy work load right there."

"I'm well aware of that," Peter said as he crossed his arms over his chest while Ned sighed in relief before Peter then said, "I just don't care." Ned rolled his eyes in exasperation at his friend's stubbornness and started to open his mouth to say something to try and settle Peter down some- perhaps another valid argument on just why the Avenger's should live for a bit longer- when they both jumped a little bit upon hearing Tony's voice roar from down the hall,

_"What in the good goddamn did you three think you were doing?!" _

Ned and Peter only stood there in the hallway staring back the way that they had come, wide eyed, as everything fell eerily silent again. Ned made another strained sound in the back of his throat before turning to Peter who now seemed much more relaxed and less angry.

It was somewhat weird the eerie calming effect Tony's voice, even when he was full on pissed and shouting at someone, seemed to have on Peter. It was like Tony's voice seemed to activate something in Peter's mind. Almost like flipping a switch on and off.

The mere sound of Tony Stark's voice seemed to be able to dictate Peter's very actions, emotions and deeds.

Shrugging his shoulders some Peter muttered, "Never mind. Let's let him deal with the idiots. Come on Ned, let's go play the latest video game or something."

"Call of Duty or Left for Dead?"

"Either. Or. I don't really care as long as I can kill something in a really messed up way." Peter muttered as he slipped an arm around Ned's shoulders and the two started to walk again as Ned said,

"Oh! If you're really in the frame of mind to kill something then why not play The Walking Dead video game as Negan?" Peter said nothing, but then again, he didn't really need too. Ned's idea sounded like the perfect de-stresser.

* * *

_"What the good goddamn did you three think that you were doing?!" Tony bellowed from where he stood just in the door way, his body practically shaking with rage as he glared down his three former friends. _

_Clint opened his mouth to say something but Tony cut him off at the knees. "No, shut up Barton! Do you have any fucking clue what your three almost did just now?" His words were met with indifferent stares from two, and a thoughtful- practically remorseful look from the other. _

_Tony sighed and took several seconds to calm himself down as much as he could before then going on to say, "Ned is Peter's friend from school. I called him here for my kid because the kid is in mourning. Now I can appreciate how you've all made the trip to come here when Bruce called you. I can even appreciate that you've spent the past year looking over your should and being paranoid about things but that isn't a free pass to come into my home and attack, threaten or bully children. More specifically, any children that mine calls his friend." _

_Steve put his hands up in a placating gesture as he said in a calm and soothing tone, "We know that Tony- this was entirely an accident. The boy startled us with that weird, shrill sound that he kept making..." _

_"Yeah that's the sounds fanboys make when their geeking out. Happens with Ned all the time." Tony snarked at the man, causing Steve to blink at him before he slowly nodded his head and then said, _

_"Duly noted." _

_Tony sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts before speaking again. "Look, I get it. I do. You guys have been running for a while and haven't really had any peace. I understand that. I also understand that the last thing that you need is a teenager geeking out on you. But I need each of you to for now forget about the nerd, and stay away from him. You've already seen how badly Peter reacted to you threatening his friend. I'd hate to have to have your blood scrubbed off of the walls, ceiling and carpet."_

_Clint opened his mouth again, probably to say something to the effect that Peter couldn't take any of them, however Tony cut him off at the knee by simply saying, "I wouldn't do anything dumb like picking a fight that I can't win, Barton. Peter may be young, but he is physically stronger than the Cap. and utterly vicious when it comes to protecting his own. Make no mistake- if you push the kid, especially right now- I won't be able to stop him from putting you down like a diseased dog." _


	8. Chapter 8

When Tony finally went to find the kids, he half expected Peter to have torn his bedroom apart while Ned huddled in a corner somewhere sucking his thumb like the last time the kid had gotten pissed about something. So naturally when he found the two sitting in front of the big, flat screen TV in the game room attached to Peter's bedroom- playing The Walking Dead video game, he was more than a little bit surprised.

"Dude," Ned practically squeaked as Tony watched a zombie grab his character causing him to panic and start yelling, "Peter, help! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" Causing Peter to snort softly as his slender shoulders shook from barely contained mirth as the zombie killed Ned's guy causing him to scream in outrage and promptly flop over against Peter's side before he snapped, "You bastard! You just let me die for shits and giggles!"

Peter just let out a snicker as he looked over at his friend, and bristled a little bit when Ned decided to attempt and attack him for letting his video game guy die for funsies. Ned let out a nice war cry for a nerd and lunged at Peter, intending to tackle his kid and knock him over the arm of the couch and into the floor.

However things simply didn't go as planned for poor Ned.

One second he was starting to wrap an arm around Peter's neck to knock him over and the next Tony watched as Peter grabbed his arm, tossed him up in the air a ways away from him and then webbed him to the ceiling so that he was hanging upside down.

"Hey! No fair! Using your superpowers is cheating." Ned said as he squirmed a little bit in an effort to get loose.

"S'not cheating. Besides, your the one who jumped at me."

"You've got super powers so of course it's cheating!"

"Nu-uh."

"Is too!"

Tony snorted loudly enough in an effort to suppress his laughter that both teens automatically fell silent and gave him those deer-in-the-headlight looks that every awkward teen was so famous for, causing Tony to laugh so hard that he actually lost his breath and had to lean against the wall just to keep himself upright as his laughter died down to a soft chuckle. And he slowly caught his breath before simply saying, "God, those looks- if I had known how entertaining you kids could be I would have adopted Peter much sooner."

"I don't think that May would have appreciated that very much, Mr. Stark." Ned said from where he was hanging. Tony said nothing as he glanced at Peter and caught the flash of pain and guilt flit across his face before he quickly looked away causing Tony to sigh and straighten his back a little bit. And then push away from the wall and walk over to the couch where he dropped himself into place next to his kid and muttered a soft, yet sincere apology.

Peter merely shrugged his slender shoulders. As if to say, it didn't matter any that he was still hurting. Or maybe he were merely trying to say that Tony didn't have to apologize.

Honestly, Tony wasn't sure which one bugged him more. The first one, the second- or both.

It turned out to be both.

Both bugged him immensely, especially where Peter was concerned. So in an effort to distract the kid from what he was feeling, tony suggested a few things to him like going out of the tower for a little bit, maybe going out to eat or doing some light window shopping at a few boutiques that he knew Peter liked to frequent.

He even joked by saying they'd leave Ned at the tower since he was already hanging out. After all, shopping and such wasn't exactly Ned's scene. He hated all the walking around involved. Which may have something to do with him being such an out of shape butterball.

Peter hesitated to respond until Ned suddenly chimed in that they could go shopping for the upcoming father and daughter school dance that Tony was supposed to chaperone since it was in four more days.

Tony suddenly sobered up, all joking set aside for the time being as he realized that he had promised Peter a month ago that he would take him to the dance. He'd still have to chaperone but at least he'd be able to dance and make sure that Peter had some fun while doing so.

That is, if his kid still wanted to go.

Finally Peter managed to find his voice and said in a none too enthusiastic sounding tone, "Sure..."

"Okay, let me go grab my stuff. Do you want to get dressed in something other than your jammies?" Peter nodded his head slowly, and Tony smiled indulgently before he got up and said, "I'll give you thirty minutes just in case." and then left the room to get ready himself leaving Peter and Ned alone.

The second that he was well out of hearing distance, Peter webbed Ned's mouth shut and growled at him about mentioning the stupid dance before he then ripped him out of his webbing and left him to drop onto his head on the floor before calling over his shoulder that the web should disintegrate by the time they came back, and he'd see to it that they brought him some food and stuff since he was going to stay behind and play video games while they were gone.

* * *

Once in his bedroom Peter grabbed the items necessary to get ready and made a beeline for the bathroom where he plugged him the curling iron, and placed his clothing on the counter next to the sink before then pulling out his makeup, and setting out the most used ones.

Light pink colored lip gloss, some eye shadow in shades that would match his shirt, and blush to take some of the paleness from his cheeks and then reached up to the unruly dark curls on his head and pulled at them- _hard _since he had little pieces of webbing holding the curls in place.

Grunting softly as the curls and webbing came away from his skin, he dropped the curls onto the counter and looked at himself in the mirror as chocolate brown locks tumbled down around his face, shoulders and back. Stopping just short of the middle of his back.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he started the process of trading one identity for another.

When he was like this, he was no longer a he. No longer Peter.

He because a she. And her name- her real name and identity, was Sara Kara Parker.

Opening her eyes slowly she looked at herself again in the bathroom mirror and was startled to find Tony standing in the doorway watching her curiously though he tried to hide it. He'd never really seen her process of switching persona's up close like this, so it was no wonder he was curious.

However the curiosity melted away quickly enough and he simply asked, "Do you need me to bring you anything?" She knew what he was talking about- he had already likely checked out what she would be changing her clothing into, so knew that if she wanted him to dig out her jewelry or a pair of shoes, he could easily do so for her while she finished up in the bathroom.

"Some earrings and some wide, three inch heeled shoes."

"Okay." He said as he slipped away and left her to her work. All in all everything she did barely took her fifteen minutes. The make-up was kept light so that it looked almost natural. Her clothing matched her make-up, flesh colored tights underneath short denim shorts, with a sleeveless black shirt tucked into the waistline of her shorts, with a large, baggy turquoise colored light sweater over the black shirt.

After she was finished putting on her make-up and clothing, she took a few minutes to mess with her hair. Trying to decide between a plain braid, or maybe a ponytail? As it turned out though, she didn't have to choose. tony did that for her and even put her hair up in high, twin ponytails on both sides of her head.

She wasn't going to lie, it was a cute look on her. Tony thought so too.

But it hurt her head like the devil.

Once her hair was up she put in the earrings that Tony had picked out for her, some small white gold and neon apatite studs and then once that was done, slipped on her shoes and followed Tony out the door.


End file.
